I Want Crazy
by callmebiles
Summary: This is a fanfiction about Star Trek, featuring James T. Kirk. Honestly, I'm not sure where this is going. I mean, I have a plan, but it's not all written down, so i can't really give you a summary, you kind of just have to read to find out. I love feedback, btws. Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC and her family. Please enjoy.
1. Prologue

"It's a girl!" the nurse shouted as she began to cradle the baby in her arms. The nurse lifted the screaming child up for her parents to see. The husband and wife looked at each other; the woman with a smile on her face and the man looking conflicted.

"Are you sure?" the man asked the nurse, with all sincerity. The nurse drew back, unprepared for this type of question. The nurse looked down at the child in her arms and nodded.

"Yes, sir. It's a girl."

"She's crying." The woman pointed out. "Why is she crying? None of my other girls cried. Why is she? Is she okay?"

"Your baby is fine, Mrs. Parker. Perfect, in fact." The nurse assured, handing the child off to another nurse to get her cleaned. "A natural child birth is different from those that we practice today. She is fine." Mrs. Parker, sighed in relief. Her husband looked at the nurse once more.

"Are you one hundred percent sure that it's a girl? I was sure this one was a boy. I could feel it." Mr. Parker insisted.

"Sir, I have been practicing medicine for almost twenty-five years. Even still, you don't need a degree to determine a human female from a human male." The nurse said. The man simply nodded, utterly defeated.

"Thomas, please don't do this. We're blessed. Four girls." Mrs. Parker begged. "Please just be okay with it. I don't want to do this again."

"It was supposed to be a boy." The man whined. Mrs. Parker shook her head, leaning back down onto her pillow, tired out. The nurse came back into the room, holding a little pink bundle.

"Mr. Parker?" the nurse asked. The man turned to the nurse. "Would you like to hold your daughter, Mr. Parker?" The nurse walked to him, carefully passing over the baby to the taller man, who held her close. Mr. Parker held his new baby girl in his arms, looking down at her. In her, she saw himself. Her head had light hair, different from her earlier sisters who all had their mom's dark and curly mop. Instantly, Mr. Parker was taken with this little girl. He loved all of his children, but he knew that he'd find this daughter to be his unmentioned favorite.

"She's beautiful." He said. He turned to his wife. "Cadence, can I name her? I want least want one child named after me."

Mrs. Parker shook her head. "I'm not having a daughter named Thomas."

"Just a middle name. We'll name her after my mother. We'll call her Reagan." Thomas moved over to show his wife their daughter.

"Reagan Thomas Parker?" Cadence asked, taking her daughter from her husband. "I think she looks like a Reagan. It's perfect."


	2. 01

"Tom!" A knock came to her door, making her jolt up in her bed. "Tom! Wake up!" The person on the other side of the door knocked again. "Today's the day!" He said, cheerfully. Tom crawled off of her bed, and moved to her closet deciding on what to wear. She didn't know why she was even putting so much thought it in it was just another day. She was just going to go for her normal t-shirt and jeans. "Tom?" The voice called through the door again.

Tom groaned. "I'm up, Dad! Just give me a minute!"

"Alright, Bud. Come downstairs when you're ready. You're mother has breakfast waiting." Tom quickly threw a clean t-shirt over her tank top and rushed downstairs, long blond hair flowing behind her.

"Reagan, don't run!" her mother ordered, calling her by her first name. Tom's mother refused to call her by the nickname her father had given her. She'd always say that she had four girls, and that she was going to call them as such. Everyone else called her Tom, but her mother wouldn't. Her father, being the one to create the nickname, was thrilled to finally have a child that he could relate to. His three older girls were always wrapped around their mother's finger. Following her everywhere, like perfect little clones, which is basically what they were. Same eyes, same hair, same build, all exactly like their mother. However, Tom was just like her father in every way. Tom despised anything that involved the color pink and enjoyed hanging out at her father's garage and helping get some of the cars out of the repair line.

With hardly any formal training, just a few classes at the local Community College, she was set for her path to join the engineering team in Star Fleet. Today was actually the day that she would be receiving the message on whether or not she would be taking off the next morning.

"Reagan?" Tom's mother asked, as she put a spoonful of scrambled eggs on her daughter's plate. "Are you excited at all?" Tom only shrugged, and began shoveling her breakfast. "You hardly seem affected at all. Thomas, this is a big deal."

"Oh, she knows. If I know anything about my daughter, it's that she tried hardest not to get excited over things that are really important to her."

Tom mumbled. "He's right, Mom. This whole Star Fleet thing might not even happen. I mean, there are far more other qualified people than me. It doesn't matter if I pass the tests, it matters if people did better than me, which is still very possible. I just don't want to get my hopes up."

"But you do want this?" Cadence asked curiously. Secretly, she wasn't sure that she wanted her daughter to do something so masculine. "This wasn't something your father talked you into?"

"No, I promise." Tom assured. Cadence raised an eyebrow. "Mom, I love working at Dad's garage. And from what Yasmin always reported, The Academy sounds like the next step for me. I want to do this."

"But Yasmin also had formal schooling. She had a medical degree. You have a few classes over at the college and all that your father has taught you."

"Which brings me back to 'there are probably more qualified people out there.' It doesn't hurt to try. If it doesn't work out, then I'll just stay at Dad's garage. It won't be the end of my world."

"Alright." Her mother sighed, although still unsure. Maybe it was just that this was her baby all grown up and possibly being shipped off to the Academy.

Tom quickly cleared her plate and put it in the sink. She leaned over her mother to kiss her on the cheek. "I gotta get going." She did the same to her dad. "I'll see you at the garage, Dad." Her father nodded, and moved back to his food. To ran outside and grabbed her bike from inside the family garage. After a few turns, attempting to start the engine, it finally got going and she headed to her father's garage.

"Hey, Tom." One of the employees greeted as she walked in the door. She dismounted her bike and looked out the window to the warehouse garage out back. There were hoards of people out surrounding it, all wearing red uniforms.

"Hey, Bobby. What's in the back?"

"Academy ship."

Tom furrowed her brow. "What the hell are they doing way out here?"

Bobby shrugged his shoulders. "What's anybody doing here? Car trouble. Trying to get back to the shipyard. Captain wants to see the owner."

"The owner won't be here for another few hours." She told the man. Bobby shrugged, and then turned back to his current project. "Guess that means I got it." She grabbed a rag from the bin by the door and stuffed it in her back pocket. The Cadets stood in a few straight lines, having casual conversation, but not leaving their spots. Tom walked up to a man wearing a black uniform. "Captain?" The man turned to face her. "Captain Pike?" she recognized. The man looked at her questioningly.

"Do I know you?"

Tom stumbled. "Uh, no, sir. I read your dissertation a while back. I just recognized you from the research I've done on the Academy for my application."

Pike nodded. "Interesting. Are you the owner?"

"No, sir. My father won't be in for another few hours. I'm second in command and I've learned everything I know from the man. I'd be honored to help you with whatever I can, sir. But if you don't mind me asking, why aren't any of your engineers helping you with the problem?"

Pike cast a smile. "I've got command of almost twenty-five cadets and not one of them are engineers."

"I see," Tom joked. "Mind if I take a look?" she asked, already reaching to put her hair in a ponytail.

Pike shook his head and gestured to the vehicle with his hand. "By all means." Tom entered the garage and found her way to the inside of the engine. "Well, sir, it seems as if I could do this just as well as my father could, if not better. I will get started right away and probably have you back on your way to the shipyard within an hour."

"Thank you." Pike said. Tom nodded, and moved passed him to start her work. Like she figured it was quite an easy fix, and was able to be done in an even half hour. Pike was overseeing her as she was working, and somehow, she didn't even feel nervous. The captain of a Federation Space Ship was observing her work and she wasn't at all shaken. She removed herself from inside the vehicle and wiped her forehead with her arm, careful of the grease that was on her hands.

Tom sighed. "That should do it, sir."

Captain Pike glanced at the watch on his wrist. "That was only half an hour." Tom confirmed this by looking at the clock on the wall.

"I suppose it was, sir." She shrugged.

"That was very impressive." Pike admitted. "Do you always get your customers out of here that fast?"

Tom waved it off. "Just the important ones. It was nothing. Just trying to get the Federation back on its feet." She went for a clean rag and wiped her hands off. "You guys can load up and take off. Good luck on your adventures, Captain Pike." Tom held out her hand for the older man to shake. The Captain took her hand, but didn't let go.

"There has to be some payment involved."

"No, need, sir. It was a pleasure doing my job for the Federation." Pike slowly released the girls hand.

"When are you supposed hear your response from The Academy?"

"This afternoon, sir. If accepted, I am shipping off tomorrow morning."

Pike nodded. "Well, thank you…" he trailed off leaving Tom to say her name.

"Oh, right. Parker, sir. Reagan Parker."

Pike hmmed. "I will definitely remember that. I will get back to the shipyard quickly, check out your file, and do what I can to put in a good word with Admissions." Tom was shocked, her jaw dropping.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but are you joking?"

"No, Ms. Parker, I am not." Pike smiled. "If all of your work is half as good as this, The Academy would be privileged to have a student like you."

"Captain, it was one job. That I'm sure any other person that any other person could have done just as well."

"Yes, but your first time estimate was an hour, and you did it in half the time." Tom shied away slightly from his comment, but didn't lose her posture. "Like I said, I will put in a good word, assuming your work is reliable and we make it back to the shipyard."

Tom nodded her head. "She's reliable, sir. You will make it, I'll bet my future on it. Thank you, Captain." Captain Pike nodded, and returned to his fleet. Tom went back to the main office and into her father's office. He had yet to arrive, but she needed a moment to herself. With that promise, how in the hell was she supposed to go the whole day without knowing about her acceptance?

Tom trudged through the day, though. As cranky and as irritable as not knowing made her, she couldn't leave the shop. She didn't tell her father of the Federation ship when he arrived. She didn't want to get his hopes up too high. Tom's father's opinion of her meant everything. She knew that no matter what she did he would be proud of her, but still that little voice nagged her. If she was given her golden opportunity to get into The Academy and blew it, how would he look at her after that? She wasn't sure that she could live with it.

Her head was under the hood of an old classic car from the early 2000s when her father called her. "Hey, Bud!" he called from across the garage. "Time to pack it up."

"Five more minutes!" she called back, trying to tighten up a few last bolts she had to put back in. She didn't want to seem too anxious to get home and check her messages. Her father nodded and disappeared back into his office. She finished up quickly and went to her bike to put it in the bed of her father's truck so they could ride back together, as they always did at the end of the day. She climbed into the passenger seat of the truck and waited for her father, who climbed in a couple minutes after she had.

"So," he started. "Bobby said something about an Academy ship coming in today."

Tom kept her composure. "Yeah, they needed to get something fixed. I took care of it. Didn't charge them either. It only took half an hour. Wasn't worth it."

"Anyone that you recognize?" her father asked. Tom nodded her head, like it was nothing special. The rest of the drive was made in silence, Tom bouncing her leg up and down. When they arrived at the house, she didn't even bother taking her bike off of the truck. She ran inside the house, ahead of her father, and went to the household screen. She hit a few buttons until she found it. Her message. The message that decided her future and where she would go, if she went anywhere at all.

"Reagan?" her mother's voice called from the doorway. Tom's eyes didn't leave the computer. "Honey, your sisters are here. Emmeline, Neoma, the kids. Even Yasmin is here, on break from The Academy. We all wanted to gather to hear the news."

Tom turned to her mother, fear in her eyes. "Mom, I didn't want them here." She said quietly. "What if I don't get in? I'm not like them. I'm not as smart as them." Cadence tsked. She went towards Tom and put her daughter's face in her hands.

"Honey, you're perfect." Her mother assured. "It's what the nurse said the day you were born and it's what I'm saying now." Tom pulled herself out of her mother's grasp and looked away and back to the screen. "If you don't get in or even if you do, we love you." Tom nodded, looking behind her mother to see the rest of her family standing there.

Tom sighed. "Everybody ready?" Her family nodded. She turned toward the computer and looked at it solely. She clicked open the message and read it aloud. "Reagan T. Parker, we have heard of your work on the ship run by Captain Pike, who was indeed very impressed by your performance. It is on his recommendation that we invite you to attend the Star Fleet Academy!" She didn't even get halfway through her last sentence before she started squealing and jumping up and down. She turned to her mother, whose eyes were watering with joy. She ran to her mother and hugged her tightly, moving through her family, leaving her father for last. She stood in front of him, knowing that he would probably be uncomfortable with a hug. She smiled up at her father.

"Wait," her father said. "What was that about Captain Pike?"

"Yeah," her eldest sister, Yasmin spoke, "Captain Pike is a big deal at the Academy. Where did you meet him?"

Tom shrugged. "He came into the shop today. I fixed something up for him. I never thought it would actually do it."

"Do what?" Thomas asked.

"He said that he would put in a good word for me. I got in because he liked what he saw with my work." Tom sat down on the nearest chair. "I never believed that this could happen. I didn't think that he would actually do it."

"You better send the Captain a thank you note." Yasmin suggested. "I mean, I know you're good at what you do, Tom. However, those accepted into Star Fleet have formal training. I bet that he was the main reason that you got in."

"Yas, I'll deal with that later. I got in!"

Emmeline came forward. "We should go out and celebrate." She suggested. "Make a girl's night. You're gonna be gone for a while. We'll miss you."

Tom nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Mom, do you mind watching my little nieces?" Tom asked, moving toward her sister Neoma's three little girls. Her mother shook her head. "I just need to shower and talk to dad for a minute." The women nodded leaving Tom with her father in the main room.

"What's up, Bud?" he asked. She smiled, no matter what her mother said, she would always love being her father's 'Bud.'

"Are you proud of me?" She asked, quietly. Thomas looked at her daughter and sighed, before wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into his own hug.

"I am damn proud of you." her father pushed her out of the hug. "But even if you didn't get it, I would have been proud anyway. I finally have a daughter that I can relate to. I love your sisters, but we never got along the way you and I do. I knew from the first moment I held you that you were going to be something special. And now you get to prove it."

Tom smiled and hugged her father again. "I'm gonna miss you, Dad." She admitted, a bulge growing in her throat.

"Me, too, Bud." He squeezed her tightly, and pushed her away. "Now, go get cleaned up." Tom smiled at her father one more time before running up the steps taking two at a time to the bathroom. She jumped in the shower quickly and dressed herself in a pair of dark skinny jeans, a red fitted shirt, and boots that went up to the middle of her calf. She would have to get used to the color. If she passed at the Academy, she would be wearing red on her missions.

Her and her sisters took a van to a bar a little down the road from the garage. It was one that they always went to, mainly because it always had the best drinks and of course, the food was great. Emmeline, as professional as she was at her teaching job, seemed to be the one that kept refilling Tom's drinks. Emmeline kept saying that Tom wouldn't know when she'd be having this much fun next. Yasmin assured her it would be as soon as she arrived at The Academy. Many of the first years go out to celebrate their last night of freedom before classes began. They had been there for about an hour when a bunch of people wearing red suits came in.

"Speaking of." Yasmin said, quietly. Tom began to recognize a few of them from the line-up that was at the garage earlier this morning.

"That's going to be you in a few short hours, Tom." Neoma informed. "How do you feel about giving up your life to the Federation?"

Tom snorted. "How do you feel about giving up your life for three kids under five?"

Neoma shook her head. "Those kids are my life. I'm sure you'll find it will be the same for you when you settle down."

"I don't think I'm ever going to settle down, Ne." Tom said, taking a drink from her Budweiser Classic. "I'm having too much fun. And I'm just beginning to map out my future. The way that I see it, guys are just for fun. Too many only want the one thing, and honestly, I'm okay with that." Her sister's shook their heads at Tom's comment.

"Maybe daddy was right." Yasmin thought.

"About what?" Tom asked, before finishing her beer.

Yasmin shrugged and then laughed at the thought. "Maybe you were supposed to be a boy." Tom rolled her eyes at her sister and looked to the door, seeing a guy stroll in by himself wearing a jacket. He winked at her and she smiled back. There was no way in hell, that she was going to forget those blue eyes.


	3. 02

Tom couldn't stop thinking about those blue eyes that had walked through the door. It was like a shade that she had never seen before. While talking with her sisters, she managed to steal glances towards the bar, where he sat. He was paying more attention to the drink in his hand than to anything going on around him. She kept trying to keep conversation with her sisters, but as she remembered his face they became more distracting. Tom wouldn't go up to him. Her sister Emmeline, noticed that her focus was not on their conversation at all.

"Who's he?" her sister asked.

Tom furrowed her brow, confused by the question. "What in the world are you talking about, Em?"

Emmeline laughed. "You've been staring at the guy at the bar since the second he walked in. It's like you're trying to undress him with your mind."

Tom shrugged, embarrassed. "So?"

"So, Go talk to him." Emmeline suggested.

Tom waved her sister off." I don't even know him. I'm not just gonna walk up to him and ask him to take me home."

"Has knowing the guy ever stopped you before?" Yasmin questioned. Tom looked back to the guy sitting at the bar, slouched over his drink.

Tom sighed. "I do need a refill." She said, looking down at the nearly empty glass in her hands. Tom bit her lip and looked to her sisters who were all nodded, trying to convince her to go. Tom groaned and pushed her seat out. "Why don't you guys go home. I'll get a cab and see you in the morning." Her sisters agreed with their own excuses, as they all got up, hugged Tom and shuffled out of the bar. Tom walked up to the bar, empty glass in hand and taking slow breaths. She stood to the left of the mystery guy. "Hey, Sal? She called down the bar, to the tender. The man looked up from the spot. "Can I get topped?" she asked, tapping her glass.

Sal jerked his head to the back of the bar. "Why don't you come on back here and get it yourself?" Sal asked. "I could use the help."

"Sorry, man, I don't work here anymore."

Sal nodded, taking her glass and setting it in a bit to be washed. "Don't you usually stop at three?" he aside, coming over with a new glass. She saw the man next to her look at her from the corner of his eye.

Tom shrugged. "I'm celebrating tonight."

Sal smiled, and handed Tom her full glass. "Congratulations." He said, then moved onto another customer. Tom lifted the glass to her lips and downed half of what she was given, and set it on the bar gently.

"What are you celebrating?" The man next to her asked, after clearing his throat. She turned to look in those blue eyes and nearly melted. She raised the corner of her mouth into a smirk.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I would, actually." He smiled.

"Let's just say that I'm moving up in the world." Tom said, turning her glass in her hands. The man nodded.

"Well, I suppose that is reason to celebrate. Sal!" he said down the bar. Sal looked their way. "Can we get a couple shots down here? On me."

"You don't need to do that." Tom insisted. "Sal, we're fine."

"Comin' up!" Sal said, with a wink towards Tom. She groaned. Sal appeared before the two of them with two shot glasses filled with a bronze colored liquid. Tom didn't' care what exactly it was, but she knew it would get her to loosen up. the man picked up his shot and held it up to toast.

"To you," he said. "a gorgeous woman, moving up." Tom mimicked his actions, clinked her glass with his, and sent it down the hatch. She slammed her shot glass on the bar counter and let out a sigh. Tom thanked the man. He waved it off and looked behind him. Tom watched as his eyes followed one of the cadets up to the bar. She knew that she couldn't compete with a short skirt. Tom sighed and tapped on the guy's shoulder. "I wouldn't."

Blue Eyes looked back at her. "Excuse me?"

"I know what you're thinking." Tom accounted. "You're gonna hit on her. I can tell you know, that it will probably end badly."

He furrowed his brow. "How do you know that?"

Tom sat down in the barstool next to him, and took a drink from her beer. "She is in Star Fleet. If you take a quick look around, you'll see that the bar is full of other cadets. Many who are twice your size. And if you don't mind me being blunt, you seem like the kind of guy who's looking for a fight. You wanna get a rouse outta the people here."

"Do I really?" he asked. Tom nodded.

"Well, for one, you come in here acting like you own the place, when I've never even seen you before and I've lived in this town my entire life. You wink at me when you walk in and buy me a drink. Then as if I wasn't standing right here, you're checking out his other girl." The man looked impressed with everything she was saying. "Seems to me that you don't care what happens to your face."

"Alright." He said. "So let's make a deal. If I get the shit beat outta me tonight, you can clean off my face and tell me 'I told you so,' while I take your crap and buy you drinks. If I don't, you come home with me, and her."

Tom smirked and shook her head. "I'll take that bet," she said, holding out her hand for him to shake it, which he did. He then turned to pay attention to what the cadet was ordering.

"Hi," she said to Sal. "I'd like a Klabnian Fire Tea, three Budweiser Classics, two Cardassian Sunrises, and…"

"Try the Slusho. It's good." Sal insisted.

"The Slusho mix, thank you."

"That's a lot of drinks for one woman." The man said, leaning around the one being in between them.

The girl ignored him and added to her order. "And a shot of Jack, straight up."

"Make that two. Her shot's on me."

"Her shot's on her." she said, leaning over to tell the man directly. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"Don't you at least want to know my name before you completely reject me?"

"I'm fine without it."

"You are fine without it." Blue Eyes said. Tom watched as he failed, using his dumb excuse of a pick-up line. "It's Jim, Jim Kirk." Jim waited for the cadet to respond with her name. When she didn't, he kept going. "If you don't tell me your name, I'm gonna have to make one up."

The cadet sighed. "It's Uhura."

"Uhura, no way!" Jim said, feigning surprise. "That's the name I was gonna make up for ya." Tom shook her head. Was this guy serious? Did he really think this was working? "Uhura what?"

"Just Uhura." She said, shaking her head. Uhura thought he was being childish.

"They don't have last names on your world?"

"Uhura is my last name."

"Well then, they don't have first names on your world?" Jim stood up and went to stand on the other side of Uhura, leaving Tom to sit alone and watch the show. "So, you're a cadet. You're studying. What's your focus?" he asked.

"Xenolinguistics. You have no idea what that means." Uhura told him with certainty.

"The study of alien languages, morphology, phonology, syntax." He paused. "It means you've got a talented tongue." Jim stole a glance at Tom, sending a smirk her way. Tom shook her head. He was actually getting better at trying to pick her up.

"I'm impressed." Uhura said. "For a moment there, I thought you were just some dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals."

"Well, not only." Jim's comment made both Uhura and Tom laugh.

"This townie isn't bothering you, right?" a burly man came up behind the two and stared down at Jim. Tom smiled. This is where it's going to get good.

"Oh!" Uhura exclaimed, setting her empty shot on the bar. "Beyond belief. But it's nothing I can't handle."

"You could handle me," Jim said, quickly. That's an invitation."

"Hey!" the burly guy said. "You better mind your manners."

"Oh, relax, Cupcake." Jim responded, placing a hand on 'Cupcake's' shoulder. "It was a joke." Jim turned back to the bar.

"Hey, farmboy." 'Cupcake' said, grabbing Jim's shoulder and turning him back around. "Maybe you can't count, but there are four of us, and one of you."

"So, get some more guys and then it'll be an even fight." Jim said, in 'Cupcake's' face before gently smacking it. Sure enough, Jim was smiling all throughout. His smile gave Tom the impression that he was trying to start a fight, just like she said he would. Jim turned back to the bar one more time, only to be stopped by 'Cupcake,' turned around, punched in the face. Tom jumped up out of her chair, shocked as Jim landed hanging over the bar.

"Stop it!" Uhura ordered. "Stop it, all of you!" 'Cupcake' went to punch Jim again, but Jim was kicked backwards, landing on a table. This sparked interest in 'Cupcake's cronies, who decided to have their go at beating Kirk. Jim managed to get in a few of his own, but he was outnumbered. Jim was hit again. He lost his balance and tripped towards the bar, catching himself on Uhura's breasts. Tom gasped and then laughed. Uhura pushed him off of her. Once things started getting more violent, like when Jim started to use bottles as weapons, Tom thought to take it upon herself to stop it. Uhura wasn't having any luck shouting at the angry cadets, and she wasn't about to jump into the fight anytime soon. A cadet threw Jim onto the ground. 'Cupcake' went to pick him up again, but Tom stepped in front of him and quickly threw her fist into his face.

"Can't you see that he's had enough!" she shouted at the bigger man. The man recovered and held up his fist moving to punch her back. But Tom grabbed his fist with her left hand and punched him again with her right. "You wouldn't hit a woman, would you?" she asked, innocently. Instead of trying to hit her again, he let out an angry breath and pushed her out of the way so that he could get his hands on Jim. Tim groaned and she was pushed into another cadet, who grabbed onto her shoulders. She quickly jerked her elbow back to hit in the stomach. 'Cupcake' had picked up Jim and slammed him onto a table. Tom came up behind the big man and started to hit him hard on his back with the sides of her fists. "Let him go! You're gonna kill him!" she shouted.

Just then, a loud whistle sounded throughout the bar and everything stopped. Tom looked up seeing Captain Pike standing in the doorway. 'Cupcake' dropped Jim and stood up straight with respect for his commanding officer. "Outside. All of you." Nobody moved. "Now!" Pike shouted. All of the cadets started to move themselves out of the bar. Tom looked over Jim and grabbed his arm to sit him up. He sat on the table, looking at her, trying to steady himself, as she dabbed at his face with a napkin.

Pike called to Jim. "You alright, son?" he asked. Tom took the napkin away from Jim's face so that he could answer.

"You can whistle really loud, you know that?" Jim said, obviously a little out of his mind at the moment. Tom sighed and turned to the bartender.

"Sal, can we close this side up?" She asked. Sal nodded, agreeing, and then moved everybody who wasn't in Star Fleet to the other side of the bar. Tom turned back to Jim. "I'll go get you some ice, okay?" Jim nodded, feeling an ache in the side of his head as he did so. Pike just looked at him and shook his head. Tom came back a minute later with a bar rag full of ice. Jim was sitting in a chair and had bits of napkin stuck up his nose to hold off the bleeding. Tom shook her head and laughed, setting the ice on his head. "So," she started, "You still wanna buy me those drinks?" Tom smiled. Jim faked a laugh, and grabbed ahold of the ice himself. Tom stood in front of Captain Pike. "Evening, sir."

"Good evening, Ms. Parker. Or should I say _Cadet_ Parker." He said with a grin. Jim looked up at her, confused when he heard what the older man called her.

"Not until tomorrow morning, sir." Tom corrected. "But I should thank you. My sister is very certain that it was on your recommendation that I was accepted into The Academy. While she believes in me, they find it hard to believe that I would have made it in on my own merit."

"Why not?" The Captain asked, confused. "You're good at what you do."

"That may be so, all of my sisters have degrees. I only have the hands-on training from my father."

Pike nodded, and then gestured to Jim. "Do you know this man?"

Tom shrugged. "Other than the fact that his name is Jim Kirk, not really, sir." She said. Pike gave a curious glance at the young man.

"Interesting." He said, moving to sit down next to Jim.

"Can I order you anything, sir? I'm sure that Jim wouldn't mind paying."

"No, thank you." Pike turned to Jim. "You know, I couldn't believe it when she told me who you were."

"And who am I, Captain Pike." Jim asked, sarcastically.

"Your father's son." Pike said, simply. Then it all clicked for Tom. Jim Kirk. James Kirk was the son of the late George Kirk, captain of the _USS Kelvin_ when it was destroyed twenty-something years ago.

"Oh, gosh." Tom gasped. "You're…" she trailed off.

"Guilty." Jim said. He raised his glass towards her. "Can I get another one?" Tom nodded, taking his glass and going to refill it. She stood at the bar, watching the two men carry on a conversation. Jim was probably throwing sarcastic remarks as Pike talked to him. Sal came behind her on the bar.

Tom sighed. "Why didn't you tell me who he was?" Sal shrugged, with a smile on his face. Tom groaned. "You're a dick." She told the bartender as she grabbed a new clean bar rag and wet it. Once Captain Pike stood, Tom rejoined Jim at the table.

"Riverside Shipyard. The shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow oh-eight hundred." Pike informed Jim, who only nodded, not really caring. Tom took a seat next to Jim, sliding him his refill. "You know, your father was Captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's. And yours. I dare you to do better." Pike said. Tom watched as Jim just looked away from the elder man. "Parker." He said, earning the blond's attention. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir. Thanks again." Pike nodded and made his exit. The two sat in silence for a couple minutes, not really paying any attention to the other. Tom sighed. "Let's get you cleaned up, huh?" she said, turning in her chair to face him. Jim nodded, and turned to face her and she began to wipe the blood from his face with the wet rag. He only watched her as she worked diligently.

"Thanks." He said, finally. Tom met his eyes, briefly.

"For what?" she asked.

"Throwing punches for some random guy you met in a bar." He said, with a grin. Tom rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulder, before turning back to washing the blood.

"Those jackasses had it coming." She said, "So did you, but I had to stop it. Even though, I think that you did that on purpose."

"Yeah?"

Tom nodded. "That way…you could buy me drinks all night." Tom smiled.

"I don't even know your name, Parker." Jim said. "Or are you not going to tell me your first name either?"

Tom sighed, dropping the rag on the table. "It's Tom."

"Tom?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow. "You're not secretly a guy, are you? 'Cause I won't be okay with that."

"No." Tom laughed. "I'm a girl." She assured. "Thomas is my middle name, after my father." She got the feeling that Jim still didn't believe her. "My father thought that I was going to be a boy. He really wanted a boy. But he got me and my sisters instead. My name is Reagan Thomas Parker, but everybody calls me Tom."

"You promise?"

Tom nodded. "Scout's honor."

Jim sighed in relief. "Thank God."

Tom nodded, turning her attention back to Jim's face. "How do you feel?"

"I can't really feel anything, so I guess that's good."

"Nothing's broken?"

Jim shook his head, looking like he didn't want to talk about him. "You're joining the Fleet." Tom nodded, slowly.

"As of five hours ago, I have been accepted."

Jim smirked. "Are you gonna wear those short dresses, too? I'd love to see that. Might actually be some sort of incentive for me to come."

Tom rolled her eyes. "Is sex really all that you think about?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Tom laughed, quietly. "Good." She smirked. Jim leaned back in his chair, finishing off his drink.

"I've lived here my entire life, same as you." This surprised Tom. "I don't know how I've never see you before. I mean, if I had, I would definitely remember you."

"Well, I've never see you. I have a pretty good memory for faces." Tom said. Jim shrugged it off. "Maybe you should join the Fleet anyway. Even if I don't wear the skirts." She said slyly. "Maybe Captain Pike thinks it'll do you some good."

"I'm doing plenty good here on Earth." Jim joked. "Besides you don't know much about me. I could be some dunce who can't do anything right."

"You are a dunce who can't do anything right." Tom told him. "But I think you could be more than that. I think that you could follow in your father's footsteps."

"Just because my dad was some sort of hero, doesn't make me one." He countered.

Tom scoffed. "You are completely missing what I'm saying. I'm not asking you to go to Star Fleet to be a hero. I think you've got great instincts, Kirk. You handled yourself really well with 'Cupcake'. I think that, alone, would make you a great captain." Tom paused. "And it would be nice to have a friend out there, other than my sister." Jim gave her a look.

"I don't know. I think it's a load of crap if you ask me."

"I'm not, but maybe you should take the night to think about it." Tom insisted.

"I'd rather take the night to think about you." Jim said, huskily, leaning towards her.

"You still think that you get to take me back to your place even though I won the bet?" Tom asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Jim shrugged.

"You wouldn't have helped me out, if you didn't want to in the first place." She looked up into his eyes to see the seductive look in them.

She sighed. "Sal!" she turned to find the man at the bar. "Call us a cab?"

Sal nodded, "Sure thing, gorgeous." He winked, and disappeared into the back.

* * *

**Chapter two! Tell me what you guys think, por favor. I love feedback, now matter what kind, so please!**

Enjoy! :)3


	4. 03

As soon as Tom and Jim arrived at his apartment, they seemed to be only focused on one thing. Jim had pushed Tom against the wall and pushed her hands over her head to get her shirt off. She put a hand on the back of his head and pulled Jim forward to touch his lips to her neck. He knew exactly what he was doing; nipping and sucking all in the right places. Tom got his shirt up and over his head and pushed him against the opposite wall. Jim smirked as her lips went to his neck and chest, her hands traveling lower to his belt, that she quickly undid and pushed down his pants. Jim shivered and picked her up. Her legs were wrapped around his torso as he walked to his bedroom. The rest of their clothes were shed as they got lost in the sheets. The two laid entangled in Jim's sheets, not saying anything, but still trying to catch their breaths.

Jim sat up a little bit and turned to look over at the clock on his nightstand. Tom shook her head, watching him. "Don't worry."

"About what?" Jim asked.

"I won't be here when you wake up."

"Wasn't worried." Jim admitted, honestly, his voice completely tired out. John quickly fell asleep while Tom laid awake, not touching him, but sticking to her side. She didn't like cuddling or sharing a bed with another person so she kept her distance.

"Jim." She said aloud, to make sure that he was definitely asleep. He didn't answer. Tom sighed and moved out of the bed, gently, so as not to jostle it. Jim moved a little bit, but only to readjust himself so that he was reaching for the empty spot that she had just left. She dressed quickly and came back to his room. Tom stood in front of his alarm. "Alarm, set to six a.m." she said to it.

"Alarm: six a.m." the device repeated back to her.

As Tom turned to walk out of his apartment, she thought about Jim. "He had better show up." she said to herself.

~~~~~

The morning quickly came and Tom instantly regretted not taking some sort of sleeping supplement. She was up all night, tossing and turning, nervous at what the next few year had lying ahead for her. Tom knew that she was going to be working ten times harder than the other cadets. Many of them, already had degrees in their field. Tom was probably going to be working on hers while also taking her classes at the Academy. When her alarm went off at six in the morning, she sighed, having already been awake for an hour.

Tom wasn't sure what she was supposed to wear since she didn't have a uniform yet. Instead of worrying about it, she chose to put her hair up in a ponytail and wear her normal t-shirt and jeans. She packed a duffel bag with the same thing and a few cute things in case she ever went out. She carried the duffel downstairs and placed it in front of the door. Her sisters and parents were all sitting around the small table in the kitchen like they always had every morning when they lived under the same roof. She smiled when she saw her family; Yasmin dressed in her cadet uniform, hat in her lap; Neoma with her youngest daughter in her arms; and Emmeline, looking like she had just rolled out of bed. Her mother was beautiful as always, looking as if she was going out to eat a very expensive dinner at a fancy restaurant. She loved to dress like this, and Tom loved that about her mom. Her father had actually but on a button down shirt on for the occasion as opposed to his ratty t-shirts he usually wore. He took the morning off at his garage to drive his daughters down to the shipyard.

"How was your night?" Tom's mother asked.

"It was fun." Tom replied.

"Did you meet anybody interesting?" Emmeline asked, slyly, smirking at Tom. Tom rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway. Her sister oohed. "What's his name?"

"Jim."

"Just Jim?" Tom nodded to her sister, trying to drop the subject. Her parents would freak out if they had found out that Tom had been in a fight last night. The rest of breakfast was spent in silence, not bringing up last night again. Cadence would occasionally look at her youngest daughter, thinking of all the places that she could go if she pushed herself harder. Her husband knew that their daughter was going places no matter how hard she worked. Tom was special. The only one of his daughters to be grounded and not worry about how they looked or the latest fashion trends.

The family gathered around the front door, Tom throwing her duffle bag strap over her shoulder. She hugged the sisters that she was leaving behind, leaving her mother for last. Her mother had tears in her eyes and Tom smiled.

"I'll do good, Mom. I promise." Tom said.

"You always do, honey." Cadence pulled her daughter into a hug. "You'll do great. I'll miss you."

"Miss you, too, Mom." Tom said her last goodbyes and climbed into the middle of her dad's truck, letting Yasmin take the window spot. The drive felt so long, but she knew they really didn't live that far from the shipyard. She sighed when her father stopped the car in the middle of the shipyard, people walking around the vehicle on both sides, going different ways. Yasmin pointed to the ship to the right.

"You'll be there, Tom. Will you be okay?" Tom nodded to her sister as Yasmin pushed the door open, placing her hat on her head and walking towards her own ship. This left Tom and her father to sit in the truck quietly. Neither of them liked the mushy stuff very much, but they both felt like a part of them was going to be missing after Tom left. She had never gone so long without seeing her father.

Tom sighed, and played with the fraying strings on her duffel. "I'm gonna miss you, Daddy." She said, not looking up. Thomas put an arm around her daughter's shoulders, and pulled her into a sideways hug. He kissed her temple.

"Me, too, Bud." He said. "We'll talk though. All the time."

Tom nodded. "I'll call you tomorrow when I'm settled." Thomas took his arm back and nodded.

"Sounds like plan." Tom pushed herself out of the truck, wrapped her duffle strap around her body, and started walking to the ship that her sister had pointed out. Halfway there, she looked back to the truck, still sitting there, idling with the engine running. Thomas waved to his daughter, watching her walk the rest of the way. Tom ran into Captain Pike standing in front of the ship.

"Captain Pike." She said, with a salute.

"At ease, Cadet." Pike responded. Pike held out his hand for Tom to shake it. "Good luck, Cadet Parker. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thank you, sir." Pike nodded and gestured his arm towards the ship behind him, letting Tom walk up the steps and onto it. She walked down an aisle, seeing a few guys from the bar. "Hey, 'Cupcake.'" She said to him with a smirk as she kept walking. She found three empty seats down the next aisle and took the one on the end. Tom had yet to see Jim. Not that she was actually looking for him, but she'd hoped she'd have one friend. She sighed, kicking her bag under her seat and strapping herself in.

"Hey!" she heard from across the way. Tom looked up to see the girl from last night.

"Hi, you're Uhura aren't you?"

"You're the girl who helped intervene last night." Tom nodded.

"My name is Tom." She said, with a smile.

"Sorry about the guys. I hope you didn't get hurt. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen to me."

"Don't worry about it. I didn't get hurt. But they did a number on Kirk's face. He didn't look too pretty afterwards."

"No, I suppose not." Uhura thought for a moment. "Well, good luck."

Tom nodded. "You, too." She said, leaning back in the seat. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, trying to calm her nerves. She got her breath into a steady rhythm when she heard the same silky voice from last night talking next to her ear.

"Thanks for the wakeup call, Tommy." He said. Chills ran down Tom's spine. She ignored them, thinking nothing of it.

"It's Tom." She corrected, opening her eyes to look at Jim. "I didn't want you to be late."

"I'm gonna call you Tommy." Jim insisted. "How were you so sure that I would come, anyway?"

"I figured you wouldn't give up your chances at having a friend like me." she said with a smirk.

"Guess you figured right." Tom nodded and looked up to Uhura, who was looking at the two of them. Jim pulled the first strap of his belt of his shoulder and looked up to see Uhura, glancing away from the two of them.

"Never did get that first name." Jim said, cockily.

Tom shook her head. "I'm pretty sure you'll never get it, Jimmy." She said, with a sneer, choosing her own nickname for him.

"Jim." He said, simply.

Tom laughed. "You call me Tommy, I call you Jimmy." Jim rolled her eyes, just letting her go on with it.

"You need a doctor!" a female voice said from behind them. Tom and Jim strained their necks to get a good look at where the voice came from.

"I told you people, I don't need a doctor. Dammit, I _am_ a doctor." Tom saw a scruffy looking man with longish dark brown hair being pulled from the small bathroom by an academy officer.

"You need to get back to your seat." The officer said, simply.

"I had one!" the man yelled back. "In the bathroom, with no windows." Tom laughed at this comment.

"You need to get back to your seat, _now_!" the woman said, raising her voice.

"Uh-oh." Tom said, unstrapping herself from her seat and moving next to the arguing people.

"I suffer from aviophobia." The man said. "It means fear of dying in something that flies." He stressed.

"Sir, for your own safety, sit down or else I'll make you sit down."

This is when Tom decided to intervene. "Hey, we really don't need to resort to violence and to be honest I don't want to have to put myself in the middle of a fight again." She said to the officer. Then she turned to the man. "Why don't we just sit down, and try to take a few deep breaths? Meditate or something? Always works for me." The man looked from Tom to the officer.

The man sighed. "Fine." He said.

"Thank you." the officer said to Tom. Tom nodded, and moved back to her seat as the man took the seat on the other side of Jim.

Jim leaned over to her. "You just have a habit of trying to break up fights."

"I hate tension. Wastes so much time." She said.

"I'm finding something I like about you every minute." Jim said. Tom smirked.

"I may throw up on you." The new man said to Jim. "Thanks, by the way, for getting her off my ass."

"No problem." Tom said.

"Personally, I think these things are pretty safe." Jim said.

"Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull, and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. A solar flare might crop up and cook us in our seats. And wait 'til you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles. See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence."

"Well, when you put it that way…" Tom said sarcastically. "Look, we'll be fine. Chances of all that happening on one quick ride are pretty low."

"And I hate to break it to you, but Starfleet operates in space." Jim informed.

"Yeah, well, got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce." The man took a tiny flask out of his pocket and opened the cap. "All I've got left is my bones." He took a long swig of it.

"Jim Kirk." Jim said, he gestured his head towards Tom. "That's Tommy Parker."

"Just Tom." She corrected, sending a glare in Jim direction. The man offered them his flask. Tom grabbed it before Jim had a chance to react. She took a swig and handed it to Jim.

"McCoy." The man said. "Leonard McCoy."

"So," Tom started. "Are you always that cranky? I mean, you seem like you could be kinda charming if it weren't for the whole 'wife leaving you' thing."

Jim turned his head to the side to look at her in disbelief. "You're just gonna hit on him while I'm right here?"

"It's not like we're a thing or whatever." Tom pointed out. "It was just one night."

"It doesn't have to be."

"No," Tom agreed. "But we should look at it like that."

"Well, damn." McCoy said. "I certainly missed the first part of this movie." Tom leaned over Jim to get a look at their new friend.

"Don't worry about it, Leo." She said. "It wasn't anything that was that important."

Jim gawked at her. "Not important?" Tom turned to Jim and raised her eyebrows. "I'm sure that last night was the best night of your life."

"If it was, I wouldn't tell you. I can only imagine what it would do to your already heightened ego." She laughed along with McCoy.

"Now, wait a minute." Jim said, sternly.

Tom groaned. "Can we argue about this some other time. I hardly got any sleep last night. I'd like to get some on this ride." Jim and McCoy honored her wishes and left her alone through the ride. It wasn't as long as she had hoped, but she did get a little sleep. Once the vessel was stopped, she removed her harness and grabbed her bag, wrapping the strap around her torso. She stood in front of Jim and McCoy. "Well, boys. This is where we part. For now, I hope." She added with a wink. The men nodded. She turned to see Uhura walking out of the vessel. "Hey, Uhura! Wait up!" Tom called. Tom scurried her way past all the of red uniform clad cadets and caught up to Uhura. "D'ya think I could follow you? I have no idea where I'm supposed to go." Uhura nodded in response. "Thanks." Tom said with a smile. She led me quietly, at first, to the dorms, where I would be getting my room assignment.

"Can I ask you a question?" Uhura brought forth.

Tom shrugged, but nodded. "Why not?"

"What's going on with you and Kirk?"

Tom chuckled. "Honestly, I just met him last night. Don't know much about him, other than the fact that he's kinda a jackass." Uhura laughed. "But I guess I should apologize for last night. It was kind of my fault. He and I had this bet…" Tom trailed off. "It was stupid."

"It's okay." Uhura admitted. "Neither of us should have encouraged him."

"Yeah, I gotta work on that." Tom joked. The rest of the walk was spent in silence as she led Tom to the dorms. Uhura showed her where to go to get her assignment. "Thanks. Maybe once things settle down we can get together again. Have a girl's night. It'll be a way to annoy the hell outta Kirk."

Uhura nodded with a smirk. "That'd be great. See you." she said walking away from Tom. Tom turned to the lady sitting at the desk to receive her room assignment. She found her room and, noticing it was empty, quickly chose the bed that was closest to the door. Tom took a seat on her new bed, and looked around the room. She was here. She made it. She laid back on her bed, sighed and closed her eyes. Just as she drifted off to sleep, the door to her room slid open. She bolted upright to look at the intruder. It was short, dark-skinned girl with long curly hair. The girl saw Tom, and squealed. Tom's eyes widened at the gesture. The new girl dropped her bags at the door and hurried over to a surprised Tom. The girl hugged Tom tightly, almost cutting off her air supply.

"Uh, hi?" Tom said, her voice strained.

The girl gasped and pulled away. "Oh, my goodness!" she said, in a thick southern accent. "I couldn't be any ruder. Excuse me, but I'm your new roommate. My name is Daisy Mae Viola. Or Just Daisy Mae." Daisy Mae held her hand out to Tom, which Tom shook.

"Reagan Parker. Call me Tom."

"Interesting!" she said, still excited. "Well, I'm from Dallas. Texas, that is. My focus is in Medical. I'm gonna be a doctor someday."

"That's rather ambitious." Tom said, in a half-sarcastic tone. "I'm in engineering. Mechanical stuff, mostly. I might try to branch out at my time here. Take a few extra classes."

"Oh, awesome! Medical takes up enough of my time. You know, late hours studying and stuff like that. It's gonna be a long road ahead of me, but I'm so excited to be here, you know?" Tom nodded, but wasn't able to get a word in. "Do you wanna go out? Get a drink? I heard of this awesome bar, just off campus. They told me that all the Cadets go there. It should be fun. We can meet some of the other girls, maybe even a few guys." She said suggestively, and then kept on talking.

Tom put her hands on Daisy Mae's shoulders to slow her down. "Okay, first, breathe." Tom ordered Daisy Mae, taking her own advice, the both of them taking a deep breath. "Second, with me, you're gonna have to slow down or you're gonna drive me crazy. Third, I'd love to get a drink."

Tom waited for a reaction from her roommate as they just stared at each other. "You are so nice. No one's ever been that honest with me."

Tom shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I don't bullshit."

* * *

**Hey, guys! Sorry this took so long. I had trouble finding an ending because I got to the part where they all meet and still had a thousand words until my minimum word count (3000 words). So I hope this does it. I won't be moving on to three years in the future. I'm planning on doing maybe a year by year thing, showing little thing that happen throughout those three years to develop Jim, Tom, and McCoy's friendship. No love triangle, but they are all going to be good friends.**

**Thank you for reviewing ****_Kar7CA_****, ****_caleb's babe, Beast of Bird Fowl_****, ****_cheshirkadi_****, and ****_Supermanne7_****. And yes, the title is after Hunter Hayes' song! (LOVE HIM!)**


	5. 04

YEAR 1

Tom loved going out. Whether it was to a bar or just sitting outside on the roof of her house, listening to the sounds of the crickets and things all around her. She loved the nightlife and hardly ever went to bed before a new day started. Not when there was so much to do once the sun went down and everyone turned on their lights.

Her parents were probably already snug in their beds by the time she was ready to go out with her roommate, Daisy Mae. The other girl had been fussing over what she was going to wear or how she was going to put her curls. Tom sat on her bed already ready to go, as her eyes followed her roommate running from one end of the room to the other. She didn't mind waiting. Tom didn't want to walk into the bar alone and she had actually wanted to become friends with Daisy Mae. Her only friends back at home were those who worked for her dad and the bartender at the bar she had been to the previous night.

Gosh, had that only been last night? Tom thought to herself. She almost couldn't believe that twenty-four hours ago she had received her acceptance into the Academy and now she was there, sitting in her dormitory. She should have been looking over the course schedule so that she could pick her classes tomorrow at registration with no problem. Seeing as she had to take a lot of beginner classes. Tom planned on taking them all in one semester just to get them out of the way. She had a lot of catching up to do if she wanted to be on the same page as all the others starting at the Academy this year. She didn't want to be looked at as slow or unintelligent. It was simply that she hadn't gone to school after she graduating high school.

Tom sighed. "DM, are you almost done? By the time we get there, all the good guys would have found someone." The blonde groaned looking at her watch. "I know I told you to take your time, but I don't want to be the only one wallowing by herself over a few beers."

"DM?!" Daisy Mae asked excitedly. "Is that like some sorta nickname?" her southern drawl was thick as she spoke.

"Uh, I guess. If that's okay?"

"Of course! I've never had a nickname." The girl turned away from her mirror to talk to Tom to her face. "I mean, other than my parents just calling me Daisy. It makes me wonder. If they didn't want to always call me Daisy Mae, why didn't they make Mae my middle name?"

"Mae's not your middle name?" Tom was confused. Daisy Mae shook her head, turning back to the mirror to continue her finishing touches on her makeup.

"My middle name is Francis. My mom's name. How lame is that?"

"I'm named after my father. I mean, my middle name. I don't think it's that lame, considering that's the name I go by. I guess, I kinda cherish it. I've always got part of my dad with me. Makes me feel better about being so far away from him since he is my best friend."

Daisy Mae turned to her with a half-pout. "That is so sweet."

Tom shrugged it off. "I guess. You ready?" Daisy Mae nodded and picked up her clutch purse from her bed. Tom had all of her necessities in her back pocket. She never understood the use for a purse. Tom sighed and pushed herself of off her bed and out of the room following behind Daisy Mae.

~~~~~

Half a drink in and Tom's nightmares might have already come true. There were hardly any guys worth pursuing in the bar they were in. Of course, those that were worth it, went up to Daisy Mae first. Tom cursed herself thinking that she should have brought her skimpier outfits with her. That's all these kinds of guys would go for anyway: those who wore the least amount of clothing. Tom was all about showing off her assets instead of showing off skin. She wore clothing that clung to her body, showing of her curves. As Tom heard another guy come up to the table from behind and say 'Hey' she quickly downed the rest of her beer. She nearly jumped out of her chair when the guy wrapped his arm around her waist. She turned quickly seeing Ol' Blue Eyes himself sending a smirk in her direction.

"Jimmy. Did I tell you that I don't like to be snuck up on?"

Jim shook his head. "No, don't think you did." Tom rolled her eyes. "But now I know." He turned his head at the sound of Daisy Mae clearing her throat obviously. "Hello." Jim said smoothly. "Who's your friend, Tommy?" Daisy Mae blushed. Tom was surprised that it showed even after all that makeup she had caked on her face before they left.

Tom sighed. "Right. DM, this is my, uh, friend?" she questioned, unsure of herself. Jim nodded. "Jim Kirk. Jim, this is my roommate, Daisy Mae." Daisy Mae sat up straight in her chair and reached her hand out to shake Jim's. Jim took it, but kissed the back of her hand instead of shaking it.

"My, aren't you a gentleman." Daisy complimented.

"Nice to meet you, Daisy Mae." He said.

"You as well."

"Why are you following me?" Tom asked Jim, disrupting his moment with Daisy Mae. There was no way that she was letting her sweet roommate fall into the dirty clutches of Jim Kirk.

Jim dropping Daisy Mae's hand lightly back onto the table and turned to face Tom. "I'm not following you. We needed a drink." He said, pointing at the bar. Tom followed his gaze and saw the man from this morning, McCoy, standing at the bar waiting for a bartender to pay him the slightest bit of attention. The bartenders always seemed to pass him up and help a girl first. Tom could just see the rage boiling up in Leo's eyes as he was ready to blow up at the tenders. Tom sighed, knowing that it would happen sooner or later. She stood up from her seat and turned to Daisy Mae.

"You watch him." Tom said, pointing to Jim. "Watch where he puts his hands. That one's trouble."

"Oh, come on. You know you like it." Jim teased. Tom rolled her eyes and walked towards the bar, joining Leo. Jim watched her as she walked, admiring the way that she did. Tom placed a hand on Leo's forearm, telling him to take a step back.

"Hey, barkeep!" She called down the bar. A couple of the bartenders looked her, but one nodded to the other signaling he'd take this one.

"What can I get you, sweetheart?" he asked, in a raspy tone.

"Can I get four shots of whatever is strongest and two Budweiser Classics?"

The man nodded. "Comin' up." Tom looked back at Leo and smirked. His face was dumbstruck that she had just been able to walk up to the bar and get someone to take her order.

"How the hell did you do that?" Leo asked.

"Ah, the joys of being a woman." Tom praised, leaning back with her elbows on the bar. "I saw you were in trouble. Figured you'd need a little help since you don't have boobs. They wouldn't look at you twice without them."

"Here you go." The bartender said, behind Tom, sliding two beers behind the four shot glasses in a row.

"Thanks." Tom said, smiling sweetly. The tender nodded and turned to the next customer. Tom pushed two of the shots and one beer in Leo's direction. "For you, my friend." Tom raised a shot glass towards him. Leo picked up one of his and clicked it with hers.

"Thanks." Leo said gratefully as he quickly downed both shots along with Tom. They both sighed after the shots were gone, pushing the glasses away from them. Tom glanced back at the table where she had left Daisy Mae and Jim only to find that he had disappeared and Daisy Mae was now sitting alone, looking around the bar. Tom picked up her beer and grabbed Leo's arm, pulling him back to the table. Leo was able to quickly grab the leftover beer glass. "Dammit, woman. You've got a grip!" he exclaimed.

Tom quickly loosened her hand from around his arm. "Yeah, sorry about that." she said as she sat back down at the table. "Doctor Leonard McCoy, this is my roommate, Daisy Mae. She is also going down the medical track."

"Oh my, gosh. You're already a doctor?!" Daisy Mae said. Leo raised an eyebrow.

This one's like an untrained puppy. Tom thought to herself. "DM, slow down." She told the brunette. Daisy Mae mouthed back a 'sorry'. Tom looked to Leo. "Sorry, she's a gets a little excited. We're working on it." She turned to Daisy Mae. "Where'd Jim go?"

Daisy Mae shrugged. "Saw some other girl and bolted."

"What did I tell you? Trouble."

Daisy Mae nodded, agreeing. "But he's cute. How do you know him?"

"Met him at a bar back at home last night. Hooked up with him. He decided to follow me." Tom admitted.

"That's not how I heard it." Leo told the blonde.

"Trust me. It's how it happened. I mean, somewhere in between he got the crap beat outta him by some other cadets, but I thought, at first, that I should leave that part out." Tom looked around the bar. She couldn't see Jim, but she saw Uhura walking in with an Orion girl. Tom raised her hand in the air and waved. Uhura waved back and grabbed her friend's hand pulling her towards them. "Hey, Uhura." Tom said, as they took a seat at the table. "This is my roommate, Daisy Mae, and my friend, Leonard McCoy."

"Hey. This is Gaila."

"Hi!" the redhead said cheerfully.

Tom nodded her head slowly. "Oh, you and DM will get along swimmingly." Tom said sarcastically. Tom suddenly felt a familiar hand slide around her waist for the second time that night. She didn't even bother turning to see Jim standing next to her.

"Bones, you should have told me you had a way with the ladies. Four of them here and only one of you." Tom rolled her eyes at Jim's statement.

"Bones?" she questioned.

"It stuck." Jim said, shrugging. Leo rolled his eyes. It was obvious he wasn't enjoying himself as much as his younger counterparts were. Gaila, though, seemed to be enjoying Jim from afar. He caught her gaze and instantly started flirting with her. Tom groaned internally feeling a pang of (what was that?) jealousy. Tom quickly downed the her entire glass.

"Oh, look!" she said, loudly, purposefully trying to get people's attention. "Looks like I need another one." She quickly moved out of her seat at the table and walked to the bathroom by way of the bar, hoping no one would follow her. She stood at the sink looking in the mirror and sighed. She quickly washed her hands and then dabbed some water on her face. The looked to the mirror again. "Just a guy, Tom. You've done this before. One guy, one night. Nothing more." She chanted to herself. She smiled at herself in the mirror when she was satisfied with what she repeated. "You're not jealous. You don't get jealous. Leave that for the girls who are too self-conscious about themselves." She let out a breath and left the bathroom, returning to the table. Jim was gone again, probably trying to chase after some other girl after Uhura gave him enough grief about hooking up with her roommate. Then, noticing it, Uhura and Gaila were gone, too.

"Hey, I thought you were at the bar?" Daisy Mae questioned.

"I decided against another drink. Kinda feel like being sober tonight."

"Oh, well. I know that I had said we'd have fun tonight, but I'm actually really tired. And we've got registration in the morning."

Tom nodded. "I think I'm gonna meet you back at the room. Hang out with my new friend, Leo, here for a bit." Daisy Mae nodded and walked off with a wave. Tom looked to Leo, who had a curious look on his face.

"Are you sure you want me to stay here?" he asked

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You're too young to be hanging out with an old, depressed divorcee like me. You could be running around with any of these tools." He said gesturing around the bar.

Tom sighed. "And what about Jimmy? He's just about the same age as me. You're sticking to him like glue." Leo shrugged to this. "And like I said on the ship, you're kinda hot." Leo's eyes widened. Tom laughed. "I mean it, you got that scruffy look, and it's kinda working for me. you're ex-wife doesn't know what she's missing."

"You should tell her that." Leo said, before taking a swig of his beer.

Tom laughed. "Now, don't tease, 'cause I just might." She winked. "What's she got on you anyway? I mean, how'd she get everything?"

Leo went rigid. Obviously, Tom had hit a sensitive topic for him. "Long story." He said simply. Tom waved it off.

"No worries. Just trying to find something to talk about." And the two of them did. Well, Tom did. Leo let her talk about herself as he asked her questions about her life and how she got to be here. She told him about her family and what they did. How she was best friends with her father and wished she didn't have three sisters sometimes. She told him about Yasmin and how she was also in the Med track. Tom even told him about Jim and how even though they've only known each other for twenty-four hours, she felt close to him, in a friendly way, of course. Not that she would ever believe otherwise, but nothing was going to come of her relationship with Jim. They were friends. That was good enough for her.

"Bones," Jim said, as he walked up to the table. "I'm gone for a few minutes and you've started flirting with my girl?" he joked.

Tom laughed, looking to Jim. "First, I'm not your girl. And second, if Leo wanted to flirt with me," she turned back to Leo, "he has my permission." She winked. Bones was lost in the moment, glancing back and forth between his Jim and Tom.

"I'm gonna stay out of this one. Thanks, though." He said with a raise of his glass in Tom's direction. Tom smirked and turned her attention back to Jim.

"What about you? You have any luck out there?" she asked him.

Jim shook his head. "It's a shame. But it's only the first night. I have years here."

"That's a very optimistic way of looking at it."

Jim nodded, and leaned down to Tom's ear. "You wanna get out of here?" he asked her, making her shiver as she felt his breath on her neck. Tom nodded, with a smirk.

~~~~~

Her hair was a mess. Not that it was put in a perfect place earlier, but now there was no way she was leaving without a ponytail. She rolled over with a smirk on top of Jim and bit in the crook of his neck, making him laugh quietly. She leaned up on her elbows, her hair cascading into his face. She chuckled and pulled it over one of her shoulders.

"What was that for?" Jim asked from under her, as his arms traveled from her shoulders further down.

"Just making sure you're awake. Wanna go again?" she asked.

"It seems like you're the one that's using me. I'm hurt, Tommy." He showed a fake look of pain. Tom rolled her eyes.

"C'mon now. I think we both know you enjoy it just as much as I do." Jim shrugged, but gave in. "Besides, this could happen more often."

"Yeah?" he questioned. Tom rolled back over and landed on her side facing him.

"Yeah. I mean, I don't want to call this any sorta friends with benefits thing, 'cause those never work out. But let's just say we make a deal."

"I'm listening." Jim said, actually interested in where she was going.

"Well, let's say we both go out to a bar with intentions of hooking up with someone. I don't find anyone worth my time, and you don't find someone willing enough to lower their standards."

"Lower their standards? You slept with me." he pointed out.

"Yeah, I already found you attractive and, in my defense, we had a bet. Anyway, if that does happen, the one of us could always find the other."

Jim nodded, pursing his lips. "Okay," he said slowly, "and if I don't want to go through the hassle of going all the way out in town?"

"You know where my room is." She said, simply.

Jim laughed. "I am very happy that I met you."

"I figured as much." Jim rolled over on top of Tom this time, and leaned down to nip at her neck. "Just remember. No feelings." Jim mumbled into her neck and continued with what he was doing.

**So I'm really sorry about how long this took. But this is year one of the three year gap between now and the movie. There will be at least one more chapter in year one, a couple in year two and maybe one in year three and then BOOM we hit the movie. Or at least that's what I have planned right now. I have notes about what I'm going to do for these three years and I'm hoping that I can make paragraphs reminding me what I want into chapters. So it depends on how bored I get that I start zoning out and thinking about my stories (that seems to be the time when I figure out where my stories are going).**

Thanks for reading. You guys are completely awesome. And I want to thank **_TheDeadAngel, Kat7CA, Supermanne7, cheshirekadi, Beast of Bird Fowl, and caleb's babe _****for being my awesome reviewers. You guys are the ones that are helping me through accepting that this is going somewhere.**


	6. 05

It had been a hard few months for Tom at the academy. Tom was running on caffeine. She was taking on more classes than she could handle. She was taking the classes recommended for a first year as well as some extra-curricular classes. In some cases, when she was doing her school work she had to have a dictionary PADD open so she could look up words that she didn't understand. It was tough for her, but she didn't want to lighten her load. It would only mean that she was quitting, that she couldn't handle it, and that simply wasn't okay. She needed to catch up to everyone here. She found herself asking more questions in class than anybody else did and staying up late in the library of the dorm room while Daisy Mae was curled up in their room upstairs. The girl who said she, herself, was going to be up late a lot studying, managed to get her full eight hours of sleep every night. Tom was jealous. She was lucky if she got half that.

Jim wasn't much help either. Tom knew that she had made a deal with him, but she didn't realize how much he would strike out when he went to the bar. He often called her up and convinced her to go up to his room. When she didn't answer, he went as far as to find her. When he did, Tom would always let up an exasperated sigh when he strolled through the door way. She would always give in to him, if only for a break from her studying. Jim was that for her: an escape. He was there to make sure that after a long day of studying over the weekend, she could just relax for a few hours. Tom was thankful, but also a little bitter, because she knew she should be studying so she didn't fall behind.

Tom spoke with her family often, her dad more than anyone else. She did miss her mother and her other sisters, but it was her dad that pulled on her heartstrings the most. Tom called him almost every other day when she went on her breaks to go get coffee. Neither had really much to report, but they liked having that connection. She would tell him how her classes were going and that she was keeping her grades up. She also told him about her friends, keeping her deal with Jim out of the conversation. He didn't need to know that anyway. Thomas would tell her about the shop and how much her mother missed her. Tom knew that he was saying just that her mother missed her, but she knew it also meant he did, too. He never was one to admit his feelings and Tom understood.

Currently, she was meeting with her sister, Yasmin, for lunch between classes. Yas had been begging her for days, saying that it would just be an hour of her time. Tom eventually agreed as long as she would help her with a few questions from her Beginner's Medical class. It was one of the classes that she didn't necessarily need, but who knows when it would come in handy? The two quickly got through the questions and then went to get their lunches. Yas sat a table across from her sister who had a textbook under her tray of food.

"So, Tom, other than working yourself to death, are you doing okay?"

Tom shrugged. "I guess. Just trying to stay awake most days. I can't tell you how tiring school is. No wonder I didn't really go back after high school."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"For you maybe. School comes easy to you and everyone else. I have to work for it. And work hard. There's barely any time for myself."

"What about your friends? Don't they help you out?"

"DM helps me when she can. I try not to bother Leo, since I know that he doesn't really like hanging around us kids. He puts up with us when he wants a drink. And Jim…well, he's Jim."

"What's going on with you two anyway?"

Tom laughed once. "We have a deal."

"Do I even want to know?" Yas asked her sister, taking a bite of her salad.

Tom shrugged. "Probably not. We're friends more than anything. We just…" Tom thought, "take care of each other."

Yasmin cringed in her seat. "Okay. That's really all I need to know. You haven't told Dad have you? I mean, you tell him everything."

"Of course, I haven't told Dad. I don't want to give him a heart attack. And I don't tell him _everything_." Tom argued, as she popped one of her French fries in her mouth.

"Maybe you would feel better if you ate better." Yasmin informed her sister.

Tom glared at her. "Paging Doctor Parker. Uh, shut up." she said, jokingly. Yasmin laughed. "I couldn't come up with anything funnier than that. I feel like I'm in second grade with no comeback."

"You're such a goofball." Yasmin said, throwing a cherry tomato at her sister's face. Tom caught it in her mouth and chewed it happily. "So what about this doctor friend of yours? Who's he?"

"Leo. I thought I told you he was the doctor." Yasmin shook her head at her sister. "Oh, yeah. Well, he's six years older than us and he's been through the whole marriage thing. I think, though, that he is kinda like our elder, in a way. He seems like he doesn't enjoy Jim's antics."

"Well, from what I heard, Jim is more of a child."

"You heard right." Tom nodded with a smile. A sound emitted from her pocket and she jumped as her communicator rang. She took it out, held a finger up to her sister, and answered it. "Go for Tom." She said.

_"I need a drink."_ The voice sounded.

"Leo?"

_"Yeah."_ He said. _"You think you could take the night off and get a drink with me?"_

Tom hesitated. "I don't know. I've got a lot of studying to do."

_"Aw, come on. Do I ever ask you for anything?"_

"Uh, well you actually don't want me to get into that." she heard Leo grunt, agreeing. "Maybe if you helped me out with some of my Med stuff before we go." Tom hinted.

_"Done."_ And with a click of the phone he had dropped the call.

"Was that a certain doctor friend?" Yasmin teased.

Tom rolled her eyes, but nodded her head. "Yes, we're going to get a drink after he helps me study."

"Ohh!" Yasmin cooed, raising her eyebrow.

"What?"

"Are you going to study or _study_?" Yasmin was obviously hinting at something other than studying.

"Yas, there is nothing going on with Leo and I. He's my best friend."

"So is Jim."

"Jim is different."

"Jim is _always_ different. You're always defending him."

"That's because he's a lot more than he lets on. He's secretly a genius. He's going places."

"So are you. With Doctor Leonard McCoy." Yasmin stressed. Tom shook her head. "Do you know how excited Mom would be if you came home with a _doctor_?"

"Okay, so before you start looking at color swatches for my wedding, I'm going to go to class." Tom said, picking up her things and throwing her bag over her shoulder. She walked around the table and gave Yasmin a hug over her shoulder.

"Love ya." Yasmin said as she squeezed her sister's arm.

"You, too."

~~~~~

Tom walked up to the room Leo shared with Jim. She knew Jim would be out since it was a Friday night. There was no way he was missing out on it. Tom, however, planned on staying in. She had a couple of her Med books in a bag along with a couple bottles of whatever she felt was needed. She knocked at the door. It swished open revealing Leo on the other side of it, his hair all in disarray. Tom laughed at the sight.

"You look like you've had a rough day." Tom joked, slipping passed him and getting herself comfortable on Leo's bed.

"Don't get me started." Leo groaned throwing himself down next to her. "I thought we were meeting in the library." He grumbled into his pillow.

"Change of plans my medical licensed friend. I have brought the booze to you." she reached into her bag and pulled out two bottles. She handed one to Leo who sat up, happily, opened his bottle and took a shot straight from it. He breathed out with a sigh, feeling the alcohol sting his throat. Tom furrowed her brow at him. "You know you could wait and at least celebrate with me."

"What are we celebrating?" he asked, leaning up on his arm.

"Too late now." Tom said, waving it off, and opening her own bottle. She lifted it to her lips, but it was brought back down by Leo's hand. Leo raised an eyebrow at her and Tom smirked. "I got a 'B' on a test." She said with a proud smile.

"Well, that is reason to celebrate." He lifted his bottle to her. "Here, here." Tom clinked her own with his and they both took a shot.

"Gah." Tom gasped. "Oh, that's good." She took another shot quickly. "Alright. Now that we're relaxed a little bit, let's get this done before we're too drunk." Tom pulled her Med stuff out of her bag. Leo groaned and sat up on his bed, leaning over Tom's shoulder to help her with her work. They got all of her studying done in an hour, taking shots when Tom was able to answer one of his questions on her own. She was happy with herself. She needed some sort of reward and shots were just the thing. Tom leaned back against Leo's headboard and pushed her school stuff on the floor. She sighed getting comfortable. Leo moved to sit next to her. "So what made your day so crappy?" Tom asked, generally interested.

"Damn trainees. They think they know everything."

"Ah, yeah. That would get annoying. I mean, in my engineering classes, I feel like the smartest person in there because I've done most of this beginners stuff. But these kids still feel the need to tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"Exactly." He said, raising his bottle to Tom. They both took a shot. "Kids. You're one of those kids, you know? I mean, you're no Jim."

Tom laughed. "No, I'm not. Thanks for that. Makes me feel mature that you actually accept me."

"'Course I do. You're bringing me around. I don't think about the divorce as much anymore. I mean, the ex-wife's still a very shrill woman. And Joanna, I miss her, but thanks to you and Jim, I don't think about her much. It doesn't hurt as bad."

"Joanna?" Tom questioned. She'd never heard him say that name before.

"My daughter." Leo admitted, before taking a long swig.

"Damn." Tom said, with wide eyes. "I didn't know you had a daughter."

Leo shrugged it off. "Never came up. Jim doesn't even know. Let's not tell him just yet." Tom nodded, without hesitation.

"Of course." The two sat in silence each taking a shot every few minutes. Tom looked over to Leo and noticed how sad he looked. She sighed. "I bet you're a great dad." She consoled. Leo let out a breath of his own. Watching him, Tom couldn't help but feel bad herself. How would her dad feel if she had been taken from him? Then, she gave in, to everything that she never liked. Maybe it was the alcohol controlling her, or maybe she just really felt bad for him. She scooted herself closer to Leo and moved his arm around her shoulders as she leaned her head on his. Leo's hand tightened on her shoulder as he took another drink. Tom looked up at him. "You know, my sister. She's got this crazy idea that I'm gonna drop Jim and date you." Leo raised an eyebrow. "I know, right? I mean, she was only thinking out loud, but she was telling me how excited my mom would be if I brought home a doctor."

"Hm…" Leo said in response. "I don't think I've come across your sister yet."

"Probably not." Tom shrugged. She took a shot and looked down at the bottle in her hands. "I'm definitely not the dating kind, but I don't think it would be too crazy. Maybe a long time from now. And I mean, like a _long time_." She looked up to Leo who just stared at her. Tom looked back down and laughed, shaking her head. Leo took another drink and realized it was the last shot. He sighed in defeat. Tom was out, too. "Oh, God. Just ignore me. I'm drunk." When she looked back up at Leo she could feel the blush on her face. "I always seem to talk too much when I'm drunk." She said slowly, watching as Leo brought his hand up to her face and cupped her cheek. She felt a slight tug as she her neck stretched upwards until Leo's lips met hers, harshly. The kiss was heated, and rushed. Tom let her bottle fall to the floor and she hitched her leg over to straddle Leo. She felt him moan against her mouth at the friction between the two. She smiled, knowing very well what she was doing.

~~~~~

Afterwards, they both fell asleep, over-tired and aches that smashed their brains against their skulls. Having been comfortable when Leo had her arm around her earlier, she settled for the same now, as her head lay on his chest, moving up and down with his slow, steady breaths. She'd never done this after she had sex, but with Leo she liked it. The two had a tight friendship and knew so much about each other. More than she and Jim knew about the other. Not that she minded knowing so little about Jim. Whatever happened to him as a child had to be hard since his father died saving his life and she knew that knowing anything after that would only cause her to sympathize with him. Not that she could, her father was alive and well. Knowing more about Jim would make their deal a lot harder at keeping all of the feelings out of it.

The door to the room swished open. Jim walked into his dark room, not knowing about the guest they had. "Bones, have you heard from Tom? I've been looking all over for her." he asked the dark. When Leo didn't answer, Jim sighed. "I hate to do this to ya, buddy. Lights." He said, aloud. The lights quickly flashed on. Tom groaned against the sudden brightness of the room, rolled over away from Leo, and covered her eyes with the crook of her elbow. When she rolled over, Jim saw her bare back had become exposed. He blushed realizing what he had just walked in on. The blush quickly faded and he became a little angry. She had never stayed with him like that. He wasn't sure that he really wanted her to, but it was still something he didn't get from her. "Tom!" he shouted in the small space of a room. The blond shot up, not covering herself with the sheet, leaving her chest exposed. Leo rose a little slower, but he was still recovering from his sleep state.

"What?" Tom said, angrily. She hated being woken up. Jim looked her over, rolling his eyes, trying to tell her inconspicuously that she should cover herself. Tom looked down and saw her nakedness. She groaned and reached around the bed for her clothes, leaning over a drowsy Leo when she saw her pants on the other side of him. She looked up to Jim after she was dressed. "What's your problem?"

"You think sleeping with our best friend without telling me is okay?"

"What are you talking about? I sleep with you. What's so wrong with sleeping with him?" she said, referring to Leo. Leo who was slowly beginning to realize what was going on, grabbed his clothes, tugged them on and made some excuse about being hungry to leave the room. "We aren't exclusive to each other, Jim. I could have slept with Leo if I wanted to, so I did."

"In my room. On his bed."

"Would you have preferred it on your bed?"

"I _would_ have preferred it on my bed, _with me_." Jim argued. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Obviously not well enough. And you could have found someone else, right? You can't actually have me as your first pick if you're going out looking for someone." Jim didn't say anything to this. He didn't know what to say. "I mean, you should have known this was going to happen, right? If you can go out and hook up with some random girl, why can't I hook up with someone."

"I figured it would be some random guy. I never thought it would be Bones."

"Why not? Because he's not you?" Jim blushed and bit the inside of his cheek with angry eyes. "That's it, isn't it? You're mad because I didn't make myself available to you. Instead, I was off doing my own thing. I told you I'm not doing this. No feeling, no attachments. Just sex. That's what you agreed to."

"I know, but this is just – it's Bones!" he struggled for his words. Jim knew that he was in the wrong here. He knew that Tom was going to have sex with other guys. He just grew somewhat close to her in the previous months that maybe she wouldn't want to. Of course, he slept with a couple other women but that didn't matter.

"And you know this whole time, it's all it's been. You and Leo. I've been too busy with school to even think about hooking up with anyone else." Tom groaned and began picking up her books and shoving them into her bag.

"Oh, come on. Where are you doing?"

"I'm leaving." She said, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "You can't handle this. Don't expect me to come back."

* * *

**Alright. Here's the next chapter that I pulled out of my brain. By the way, I'm going to hide behind my computer while you guys throw things at me because I didn't know that this Tom/Leo thing was going to happen until I woke up this morning and reread the chapter that I typed into the night, while my brain was half asleep. Sorry to those who don't really like Bones but I LOVE HIM. Sarcastic bastard 3. But the description doesn't say Leo / OC, it says Jim / OC so it'll get there. Just give it some time.**

Once again, thanks to my lovely commenters **_Kat7CA, Supermanne7, and the Guest (did you see the blushing? I'll do better in future chapters)_****. Sending my love to you! 3**


	7. 06

An entire month had passed since Tom had walked out of Jim's room that night. She couldn't say she wasn't completely happy about it. Her and Jim did have a good friendship and he always seemed to help her keep from getting too flustered about school. He was the break point. The first couple days after the incident, Jim would stop at her room to talk her to her senses. He wasn't really mad about the Leo thing, he just wasn't expecting it. Jim wouldn't admit that he was jealous about it, he hadn't let his emotions and feelings for her get the best of him. Tom knew he had. She wouldn't open the door when he knocked and Daisy Mae would tell him that she wasn't there even though she was. Tom's roommate was being very supportive about the whole thing. Daisy Mae wasn't exactly in favor of their deal anyway. She had grown really close to Tom and knew that she should have better.

When he knew Tom wouldn't answer her dorm room door, Jim decided to confront her in public. He would come to her normal study area and sit at the table next to her. She would focus on her work when he talked. When he said something she didn't agree with, she rolled her eyes, got up, and left. That didn't stop Jim. He continued to come to the table. It got to the point where Tom had to change her routine completely, moving her study area across campus, or in the medical area when Leo was on duty. Jim didn't bother him while he was in the medical building so Tom knew it was a safe place.

Things were getting tense for Leo since he was in the middle of the fight. He was keeping the secret hideouts for Tom, but he was also hearing Jim beg him to defend him or speak in his favor. Leo couldn't do that for Jim. Tom would come around and he was sure of it. Tom was too laid back to let something like this come between their friendship. Leo always saw the smile on Tom's face after she spent the night with Jim. She would forgive him and they would go right back to where they started.

Jim stopped trying as hard after the first week. When she disappeared from the library, he didn't go looking for her. He did, however, go to her room one more time.

"Tom, I know you're in there." He said through a door. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, with a textbook PADD in her lap and a new pair of glasses that she just found out she needed perched on her nose. Tom looked up at the door and then to Daisy Mae who stood in front of the mirror getting herself ready for a night out.

Daisy Mae sighed and walked over to the door. "She's not here, Jim."

"Bullshit. I've looked all over campus. She's here I know it." Tom groaned, and pushed her books off her lap and moved over to the door. She pushed the button to make the door swish open. "Yeah, I lied. I didn't look for you. I just knew." Tom scoffed at Jim.

"Well…" Daisy Mae started in her thick accent. "I'm headed out. Unless you want me to stay?" she asked Tom.

Tom shook her head. "He'll only be here a moment."

"He better be." The brunette threatened with eyes glaring into Jim's. She walked out passed the two of them.

"It was nice seeing you, too, Daisy." Jim told her. Daisy Mae responded with an 'mmhmm' as she continued down the hallway.

"What do you want?"

Jim shifted his weight on his feet. He was a little flustered but it needed to be said. Nervously he said something without thinking. "I like what you're doing with your hair." He said, gesturing up to his own head. Tom rolled her eyes at him, remembering that her hair was in a bun on the top of her head. "The pony tail sticking out in different directions. It's…unique."

"Get on with it." Tom said with no change in tone. She was annoyed and she was getting tired of him showing up here.

"Okay, well. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to leave you alone." Jim told her. Tom raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "No more coming to your door, or stalking you in the library. You can even use your normal study spot. I won't go looking for you."

"Is there some sort of catch?"

"Look, I just know that you're mad, okay? I know that you need time to get over this, because you were right. I did freak out about you and Bones, but we've all moved on from it, right? It was one drunken night and it didn't matter. Bones and I are good, you and him are good. Everyone is still friends."

"I'm not – "

"You are my friend." Jim insisted. "You were my friend since the moment you walked up to me at that bar. No girl has ever done that as confidently as you have. Not to mention that you were actually giving me advice on some other girl."

"You should've taken my advice." Tom told him, thinking about the night he got his face rearranged at the bar they lived by.

"I should have. But if I hadn't I'm not sure that I would be here. I would prefer not trying to get my friend to talk to me again, since I don't do well groveling. I've never had a friend who is a girl. I've never been on her door step trying to get her back." Jim ran a hand through his hair. "What we have is…awesome." Tom scoffed. "We're friends. Best friends, even, I think. And you're great. Perfect. And even if it means that we don't have sex anymore, I don't even care. I just want my friend back."

"I'm not so sure I want that. I'm seriously, stupidly, sexually attracted to you, Jimmy. I don't think you and I can just be friends."

"Then that's fine. We can still have sex." Jim said with a smirk.

"Alright, I'm done listening." Tom said, annoyed. She reached for the button to close and lock the door again.

"No, just wait." Jim said, reaching for her arm, clasping it between his fingers. Tom look at his hand on her arm and then up to him. "Just think about it. You know where I'm at. I'm gonna wait until you come to me."

Tom sighed. "You gonna be waiting for a really long time."

Jim shook his head. "No, I won't. I'm irresistible."

Tom shook her head, with an eye roll. "Good night, Jim."

"Night, Tommy."

* * *

"Mom, I'm fine. I promise. You really don't have to keep calling every day. I don't even talk to dad this much."

"That's because your father never has much to say. I'm just worried about you with finals coming up. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you studying a lot?"

Tom rolled her eyes, looking at her book in her lap. She was actually in the midst of studying when her mother called her at the same time she had been for the last few days. Cadence had a habit of calling people while she was cooking dinner, and her first call recently was to Tom. "I would be studying right now. But I'm talking to you. I'm fine. Sleeping and studying. I'm just stressing out a little bit. I feel like I need a break, but I need to study."

"Oh, honey, you deserve a break. Why don't you go out tonight? I'm sure your friends miss you."

"My friends are studying just as hard as I am."

"What about that doctor fellow your sister told me about? He seems nice."

"He is nice, mother, but I'm not dating him. Whatever Yas told you, was a bit overreaching. He's my best friend."

"Okay, well, what about that other boy? Kirk. Are you still not talking to him?"

"Yeah, no I'm not. I haven't talked to him in a couple of months."

"What happened with him? For the first couple months out there, he was all you would talk about and now all of a sudden you aren't friends?"

"He was not all I would talk about." Tom said, blushing and picking at her finger nails. "I talked about other things."

"Yeah, but they always had something to do with him. 'Jim and I went out last night,' 'Jim said something really funny,' 'Jim is a really smart guy'."

"Mom, really?"

"Look, if he's so smart, you should get him to help you study."

Tom scoffed. "I'm not that desperate." Tom sighed and looked at her study guide. "Look, I should get back to studying. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright. I love you, Reagan."

"You, too, Mom." Tom sighed, dropping her communicator on her bed next to her. She looked at her study tools wishing that they would all just disappear and that she would be done with all of it. Tom didn't remember ever working this hard for something. She was exhausted. All of these classes were taking a toll out on her sanity. The words blended together. She needed to move to a new subject. She checked the time and noticed that it was an off time for Leo. He normally spent the hours he wasn't in the medical lab sleeping. Beginner's Med was the way to go. She packed up her book bag with a few books in her bag and headed out the door to Leo's room. Tom arrived and chimed the doorbell. The door swished open a second later only to reveal not Leo, but Jim.

Jim showed his charming smile and leaned against the door frame. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me for very long."

"Not funny, Kirk. Is Leo here?"

Jim shook his head. "Some sort of doctor emergency. That or he needed a drink. Not sure. He wasn't here when I got in."

"So you have no idea where he is?" Tom asked, annoyed with him beating around the bush. Jim just shook his head. "Great." Tom sighed. "Well tell him thanks for nothing." Tom turned and started to walk away from the room and go back to her own.

"Tom!" Jim called stopping her footsteps from going anywhere.

"What is it, Kirk?"  
"What is with this "Kirk" stuff?" Jim asked. Tom only raised an eyebrow wanting him to get to his point in stopping her. "Look, maybe I could help you." Tom scoffed and turned back around to leave. "Oh, come on. Would it be that horrible? You seem like you could use a little break, too. I could give you a neck massage."

Tom snorted a laugh. "Yeah, that will lead us straight to the bed."

"Then so be it."

Tom shook her head. "Good night, Jim."

"Tommy, c'mon." Jim said, grabbing her wrist.

"Jim - " Tom said, but was stopped when Jim pulled her into him room. He shut the door and locked it with his code so that Tom couldn't get out herself. Tom sighed. "Isn't this considered kidnapping?" she asked him.

Jim shrugged. "I'm trying to help." he said, as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Close your eyes."

"Oh, yeah, right. Close my eyes and then you rape me, right? That's how it works with you creepers."

"I'm not about to rape you, Tommy." Jim assured. "Could you just comply with me for two seconds instead of being your normal difficult self?" Tom groaned, but went along with him anyway. She closed her eyes and she felt a tug as Jim turned her around. "Take three steps forward."

"Are you gonna make me run into something?" Tom asked.

"Trust me…" Jim sighed, getting annoyed with Tom's lack of compliance. Tom took the three steps forward that Jim ordered her to. To her surprise he didn't make her run into anything. She took a deep breath thankful that Jim wasn't messing with her. "See, trust me. There's really nothing I could do to you that wouldn't result in me getting my ass handed to me on a plate." Jim explained, taking Tom's bag off of her shoulder.

"Got that right, Kirk."

"And enough with the Kirk crap. I prefer even Jimmy to that." Jim said, although he was walking away from Tom because she couldn't hear his voice right up on her ear anymore. She sighed in relief knowing that him being as close as he was would just make her want to turn around and throw him back on his bed, not caring that Leo could walk in any second. "Okay." Jim said, his voice seeming closer. Tom felt him move a little bit right in front of her and then move right to her side. He sighed. "Open your eyes." Tom did. In front of her she saw that he had moved her to stand in front of the desk. The desk had been arranged with all of her textbook PADDs and a few of her favorite snack candies. She furrowed her brow and looked to Jim.

"What exactly is this for?" she asked him.

Jim sighed. "You were taking a really long time to come to your sense. I'm kind of impatient."

"Kind of?"

"And…" Jim said, ignoring her comment. "I decided to put together this little peace offering and come to the rescue and be your study tutor for the week."

"Jim, you have your own exams to study for."

"I've already taken them. Don't worry about it." he said, sitting her down in one of the chairs at the desk. He took the other one. "Look, I was planning on coming to you tonight, but since you're here, we might as well just get going. Now, pick a subject, and let's get started."

"I'm not doing this." Tom argued. "I don't need your help."

"You do need my help. Or at least you need someone's help. Otherwise, you probably wouldn't have come to my door, asking for it."

"I was looking for Leo." Tom groaned.

"And he is not here. So, please, to stop wasting time, just let me help you with this. And maybe, if you're up for it, later, I could help you relax."

Tom laughed. "You make it sound like it's just that easy to get back in my pants."

"It's not. I know that much. But I know that it could take a little bit of the edge off so that you're not so stressed out. And Bones agrees with me."

"Oh, does he, now?"

Jim nodded. "So technically it's Doctor's Orders for me to have sex with you."

Tom sighed. "Ah, you'll use any line in the book to get yourself laid, won't you?" she joked.

Jim nodded again. "Just about."

* * *

So there really is no excuse for me to have taken this long. But here it is. I believe that this is also going to be the end of year one and the next chapter should start off with the second year at being at the Academy. Lots of drama coming up for this next year so I'm excited to start it.


End file.
